Niagara Falls MP says Buffalo Airport should throw a ‘parade’ for federal government
Published August 22, 2022 at 1:50 pm
Niagara Falls MP Tony Baldinelli is continuing to hammer away at the federal Transport Minister over border delays and continued use of the much-maligned ArriveCan app.
Since his riding also takes in Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fort Erie, Baldinelli represents all three of Niagara Region’s border bridges.
“Canada’s largest airport is so bad that (airport) competitors in nearby Buffalo, N.Y. ought to hold a parade for the transport minister,” Baldinelli posted in the barb aimed at Transport Canada Minister Omar Alghabra.
A couple of weeks back, Baldinelli said, “I had the opportunity to join the Transport Committee in Ottawa to discuss the ongoing disastrous impacts of ArriveCAN and airport delays in Canada.”
“The Liberal government’s continued mandatory use of ArriveCAN, despite the great concerns of many constituents and stakeholders, is frustrating, to say the least.”
Baldinelli has some big support on both sides of the border too as advocates in the United States are ramping up the pressure on the Canadian government to ease travel delays between the U.S. and Canada.
It calls on Ottawa to scrap the troublesome ArriveCan app, a mandatory pre-screening tool for visitors to Canada.
Council CEO Maryscott Greenwood says Canadians have sent MPs nearly 1,500 emails through travellikeits2019.ca since the campaign launched earlier this month.
And it wants the federal government to clear the backlog of 350,000 applications for the Canada-U.S. trusted-traveller system known as Nexus.
The Nexus back-up is further irritating the situation after the Canada Border Services Agency and American customs officers had a dispute regarding the U.S. agents’ right to carry guns on Canadian soil.
That caused Canadian Nexus’ offices to shut down, causing a backlog of applications. The average processing time for NEXUS is six months. However, they are now warning that because of the dispute, application may take longer to process.
Prominent members of American Congress like Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican, and Democrat Rep. Brian Higgins are also urging officials on both sides of the border to take action.
– With files from The Canadian Press
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